A little back ground info:
I've been with this company for a only a few short months. I am the only IT guy here, and the guy before me, while not having an IT background did the best he could with the network.
We have a single DC (MS server 2003). This server was installed several years before I got here. At the same time a database server was installed, also running MS server 2003. Some time later, still long before I got here, the database server was replaced. As the database was being removed, it took some of the OS files with it. That server has not been up since. Recently, as I've been poking around on the DC, I have discovered that there is no group policy, or at least the "path can not be found". Now what I do know is that the old database server went online at the same time as our DC, and it is the only server that has been removed. My assumption is that Group policy was on the old database server, but nobody can confirm this.
Last Friday I tried to install MS GPO manager to see if I couldn't fix anything that way. Anytime I try to do anything, it hangs for several seconds and then finally comes back with an error stating that it cannot find the path. Saturday, I discovered that I can no longer remote into one of our other servers. Just that one though. I thought this was a strange coincidence, however now that people are back to work this morning, I'm finding that several machines, while able to ping the DC can no longer access AD or mapped drives on the DC.
I've searched in several IT forums. While everything seems to point to Group Policy being the problem, unfortunately I don't know all the much about Group Policy and have found little help to resolve the issue.
Any support I could get here would be greatly appreciated.
Correction. None of the machines are able to access AD or the mapped drives pointing to the DC. Initially I thought it was only a select few, who where having problem because they let their passwords expire, and now can't change them. But as I dig around, I have found that nobody, from any machine can access the DC, although any machine can ping it. Most people are not aware of the problem because A) their passwords haven't expired and B) they don't have a need to access anything on the DC.
I've been with this company for a only a few short months. I am the only IT guy here, and the guy before me, while not having an IT background did the best he could with the network.
We have a single DC (MS server 2003). This server was installed several years before I got here. At the same time a database server was installed, also running MS server 2003. Some time later, still long before I got here, the database server was replaced. As the database was being removed, it took some of the OS files with it. That server has not been up since. Recently, as I've been poking around on the DC, I have discovered that there is no group policy, or at least the "path can not be found". Now what I do know is that the old database server went online at the same time as our DC, and it is the only server that has been removed. My assumption is that Group policy was on the old database server, but nobody can confirm this.
Last Friday I tried to install MS GPO manager to see if I couldn't fix anything that way. Anytime I try to do anything, it hangs for several seconds and then finally comes back with an error stating that it cannot find the path. Saturday, I discovered that I can no longer remote into one of our other servers. Just that one though. I thought this was a strange coincidence, however now that people are back to work this morning, I'm finding that several machines, while able to ping the DC can no longer access AD or mapped drives on the DC.
I've searched in several IT forums. While everything seems to point to Group Policy being the problem, unfortunately I don't know all the much about Group Policy and have found little help to resolve the issue.
Any support I could get here would be greatly appreciated.
Correction. None of the machines are able to access AD or the mapped drives pointing to the DC. Initially I thought it was only a select few, who where having problem because they let their passwords expire, and now can't change them. But as I dig around, I have found that nobody, from any machine can access the DC, although any machine can ping it. Most people are not aware of the problem because A) their passwords haven't expired and B) they don't have a need to access anything on the DC.
